MGM Options ‘Mrs. Frisby & The Rats Of NIMH’

Get ready to see another remake of a children’s classic. MGM has optioned Robert C. O’Brien’s classic ‘Mrs. Frisby & the Rats of NIMH’ in hopes of developing a new family franchise.

The novel ‘Mrs. Frisby & The Rats of NIMH’ was first published in 1971. The story is about a widowed field mouse named Mrs. Frisby who seeks the help of highly intelligent rats when her son becomes sick and loses her home.

United Artists adapted the book into a movie in 1982 called ‘The Secret of NIMH.’ (Interesting fact, the name Mrs. Frisby was changed to Mrs. Brisby over trademark issues with Frisbees.)

It was recently announced that Daniel Bobker and Ehren Kruger of Bobker/Kruger will produce with Michael Berg (‘Ice Age’) set to write the screenplay.

‘Mrs. Frisby & The Rats of NIMH’ has two sequels, ‘Rasco and the Rats of NIMH’ and ‘R-T Margaret and the Rats of NIMH’ penned by O’Brien’s daughter, Jane Leslie Conly.

Paramount had previously attempted to turn these books into a franchise. A sequel to the movie ‘The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue’ was a direct-to-video release in 1998. It was not based on ‘Rasco and the Rats of NIMH’ and did not fare well with fans of the first movie.

‘The Secret of NIMH’ did sort of disturb me as a kid. After all, it was the first time I ever heard an animated character say “damn.” That being said, I’m curious to see if this re-imagining would be closer to the book. Either way, I’m definitely going to miss Dom DeLuise as the voice of Jeremy.

Do you think ‘Mrs. Frisby & The Rats of NIMH’ could be a successful franchise?

Becky Feldman

Becky used to play Power Rangers with her Barbies as a kid. She was a huge fan of Batman: The Animated Series, probably because it came on before the Power Rangers. Currently, she is living in California, pursuing her dreams of becoming an actor/writer/Black Ops agent who only fights mean demons. She’s written for Funny or Die, as well as some jokes for TV shows that were too good to air. You can also see some of her sketches performed live at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles. They’re mostly about the Power Rangers.

*cue falling onto your knees and shouting ‘NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO’ at the top of your lungs*

Ann Vole

The Bluth movie only covered a small portion of the story about the rats themselves. If the movie concentrates on the rats and their journey, it should be accepted be accepted better by Bluth fans. If done right, it can also remain cannon to the book and it’s sequel books while not breaking cannon with the movies. This would add a lot of respect from fans of either books or movies.

Ann Vole

I heard somewhere that Blue Sky Studios was going to be involved with the CGI in live action style of production. I note that there is a rather realistic mouse in the movie “Epic” made by Blue Sky. Epic is very different in style then the Ice Age movies. I am curious if this mouse has any connection with early test renderings of involvement with the NIMH franchise creation (in 2009, these same people tried to get a Rats of NIMH film started at a different studio… about the right time for the development of Epic)